Austin Tice’s mother looks to Qatar to rescue him from Syria

The mother of an American detainee in Syria has now placed her hopes in Qatar to save her son from the prison network of Bashar al-Assad’s regime, as the United States continues to delay the process.

On Monday, the Emir of Qatar Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani is set to visit the White House to meet US President Joe Biden to discuss a range of matters from bilateral relations to global and regional issues.

Debra Tice, the mother of Austin Tice, has reportedly expressed her hope that the release of her son will be amongst the topics discussed. According to the American news site Axios, she said she believes Qatar could help to secure his freedom if the US encourages it to do so.

“I do believe that the United States needs to take notice that things are quickly changing in the Middle East, and that Syria’s neighbours are very keen to have the conflict resolved. And getting Austin home would remove an obstacle for some of that progress,” she told the site in an interview.

The mother’s hopes could stem from Doha’s long and successful history of brokering the release of Western hostages by serving as a diplomatic bridge between Washington and its adversaries.

Examples include the Taliban’s release of US Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl as a result of secret negotiations by Qatar in 2014, as well as the release of the American writer Peter Theo Curtis by the al-Nusra Front in Syria that same year.

READ: The US has given the green light to normalisation with Syria

Tice, a former Marine captain and a student at Georgetown University, travelled to Syria in May 2012 to cover the Syrian revolution as a freelance journalist for various outlets. After his taxi was stopped at a checkpoint in a suburb of Damascus in August that year, he was disappeared by regime forces. Apart from a short video clip showing him blindfolded five weeks later, he has not been seen or heard of ever since.

Over the years, the US has demanded his release, but serious efforts were only made when officials from former president Donald Trump’s administration visited Damascus for negotiations in 2020. The Assad regime’s demands, however, included the full withdrawal of US forces from Syria, the lifting of sanctions, and the restoration of diplomatic ties, which Washington refused.

Under the current Biden administration, the matter seems not to have advanced. In December, Debra Tice even called the White House the main “hurdle” obstructing her son’s release, with Biden nor any other senior official – apart from the National Security Adviser – agreeing to meet with her and the families of other American detainees.

The president’s unwillingness and his administration’s delay of the process has reportedly caused Debra Tice to be critical of the US’s Syria policy, which many believe to be weak and incoherent.

READ: The world will regret bringing Assad in from the cold